The different facets of the life of Pichumani Venkatraman

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Kejriwal and the Bail ka nautanki

Kejriwal has been accused of defamation by Gadkari and he has chosen not to pay the bond money of Rs 10,000/- and instead go to jail.

Kejriwal has accused Gadkari of corruption. Gadkari did not respond to it until the elections were over. ( More on the timing aspect and proof with Kejriwal later )

There are two options to deal with defamation. The civil suit ( for claiming damages ) and the criminal suit ( for punishment ).

* India is the only country in the world where defamation is can be a criminal act. A vestige of the British era, it does not exist even in UK. It was introduced to put freedom fighters into jail. *

In the criminal suit the accused ( Kejriwal in this case ) has to appear before the Magistrate for every single hearing. In order to ensure that the accused will do so, a monetary bond is asked for so that the court can encash the bond if the accused absents himself. This is the normal routine procedure. Kejriwal can easily post the Rs 10,000/- bond and avoid all this drama.

The issue is not of the money, or the bond, but that of a draconian law that the British enacted to stifle dissent. Most other countries have debated on the criminal aspect of defamation and have decided not to have this law since it would amount to curtailing freedom of speech.

And yet in the world’s largest democracy, ( of which we are rightfully proud ) we have a law where this is being achieved, based on what our colonial masters left us with.

So if any of you so much as call me ‪#‎AAPtard‬ based on this post, I can go to Bandra court, get a lawyer to file a criminal case against you. You may be in any part of the country, you will have to appear before the Bandra court every time. And in order to ensure this, the judge will ask for you to post a bond. I can ask for that amount to be increased, saying that I fear that you will not appear. It can be anything the judge feels is right.